Projects

: Finance and tax

To illustrate our broad expertise, covering many different economic sectors, commodities, sustainability themes and countries, this page gives an overview of the different projects executed by Profundo over the years. In the menu, you can filter the projects by thematic area. Each project is described briefly and where available the project portfolio - such as reports, brochures or presentations - is provided. Attention is also given to the exposure generated by the project in the media, in politics and elsewhere.

When you are looking for a specific report, we recommend to go to our Portfolio page.

We analyse the various human rights and other sustainability risks in international commodity supply chains and identify what different stakeholders can do to foster sustainable development of value chains in agriculture, forestry, livestock, energy, fisheries and mineral sectors.

We analyse how companies are financed by banks, shareholders and others financiers, to assess what financiers could do to foster sustainable corporate practices. Also, we dig into ownership structures and the schemes companies have set up to minimise tax payments.

We assess and benchmark responsible investment and credit policies of banks and investors and we advise on how policies can be improved and implemented through screening, voting, engagement and exclusion strategies.

We analyse the financial parameters of companies and assess how companies and their financiers could be affected in different scenarios by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks related to deforestation, climate change emissions, human rights abuses, resource depletion, health impacts and other sustainability issues.

We analyse public policies in the economic, tax and environmental domains, which could shape or restrain the sustainable transformation of the corporate and financial world, and propose alternative policies.

January 2019

January 30, 2019

Tycoons in the Indonesian palm oil

This report is an update of the report that was launched in February 2015 by TuK Indonesia. It is about the power of tycoons in the Indonesian palm oil sector.

December 2018

December 5, 2018

Coal Exit

Profundo provided the financial data for the Global Coal Developers list, published by Urgewald on coalexit.org, in cooperation with Banktrack, Les Amis de la Terre, RAN and Re:Common.
The financial data concern the loans and underwritings to, and the bondholdings and shareholdings of 120 coal plant developing companies worldwide.

November 2018

November 27, 2018

Still Undermining our Future?

This study examines the changes since the Paris Agreement on climate change (December 2015) in the lending and investment patterns of Dutch financial institutions, when it comes to renewable energy and fossil fuels. It shows that individual banks and insurance companies are staying far behind in the average trend towards increasing renewable energy financing.

The objective of this study was to estimate the carbon footprint of 15 Japanese financial institutions (both banking groups and insurance companies) through their shareholdings in the top 50 CO2 emitters in Japan. This research first identified the estimated C02 equivalent emissions of the top 50 CO2 emitters in Japan. It then identified the proportions of investments in these companies by the 15 selected financial institutions. Finally, the attributable estimated C02 equivalent emissions per financial institution was calculated as the proportion of the emissions on the basis of their percentage stake in the top 50 CO2 emitters.

September 2018

September 10, 2018

Energy Finance in Japan 2018: Funding Climate Change and Nuclear Risk

The objective of this research project is to identify Japanese financial institutions with no record of financial relationships with Japanese companies engaged in coal development, fossil fuel ownership and nuclear power, while profiling those financial institutions (banks, asset managers and insurance companies) with highest exposure to fossil fuels and nuclear power in Japan.

March 2018

March 28, 2018

Banking on Climate Change

This annual fossil fuel finance report card grades banks on their policy commitments regarding extreme fossil fuel financing and calculates their financing for these fuels from 2015 to 2017.
Profundo calculated the segment adjusters to weight financial transactions according to a company’s involvement in a given industry and collected project finance data.

February 2018

February 28, 2018

Maybank: The Single Largest Palm Oil Financier

This report for TuK Indonesia, finds that Maybank is the world’s single largest financier of the palm oil sector – it provided 11% of all loans and underwriting to 85 palm oil companies in the period 2010-2016. However, it has no publicly available risk policy for financing the sector. The bank has financial relationships with a large number of controversial palm oil companies that are involved in environmental, social and governance issues. This implication leaves Maybank exposed to significant financial and reputational risks.

July 2017

Natural forests are under threat of deforestation and forest degradation, leading to significant carbon emissions, loss of biodiversity and livelihoods of indigenous communities, and other adverse sustainability impacts. International financial banking regulation generally does not recognize environmental and social risks including those from deforestation as material risks to financial stability. However, over the past ten years sustainable banking initiatives by national policymakers and regulators have emerged. These initiatives can support the commercial banking sector in mitigating deforestation risk while enabling sustainable economic development. This report describes a framework for sustainable banking initiatives and profiles three pioneers of sustainable banking regulation and implementation.

The involvement of European insurance groups in the fossil fuels sector

The objective of this research was to map the involvement of 15 major European insurance groups in the fossil fuels sector. This was done by analysing the investments, underwriting activities and policies of each of the selected insurance groups. The results showed that the combined 15 insurance groups have investments with a value of over US$ 130 billion in fossil fuel companies. It also showed that 11 out of the 15 insurance groups are highly involved in the global fossil fuel underwriting sector.

The costs of compensating the people in the Dutch Groningen province for the damages incurred because of gas extraction by the NAM, could rise in the coming years to over one billion euros per year. The NAM only reserves a fifth of these potential costs (217 million euros per year) to compensate for earthquake damage in Groningen.

March 2017

March 2, 2017

Case study: Controversial Arms Trade

This study examines whether and to what degree the ten largest insurance groups active in the Netherlands, as selected by the Fair Insurance Guide, invest in companies that are involved in controversial arms trade.

November 2016

November 18, 2016

Links Between Palm Oil Suppliers and Swiss Financial Institutions

This report provides an overview of financial relationships between selected groups of Swiss financial institutions (FIs) and palm oil producers companies. It builds on earlier research conducted for Brot für alle.

Research for European Parliament - Seafood industry integration in the EU

This study investigated the levels and mechanisms of vertical and horizontal integration in the European seafood industry. This was done through a combination of corporate structure analyses, stakeholder interviews, and econometric analysis.

October 2016

October 5, 2016

Coal Finance Training Manual - How to stop banks’ support for coal projects and coal companies

The objective of this manual is to help coal campaigners understand the different roles and forms of involvement of banks and other financial institutions in the financing of coal mines and coal-fired power plants and to strengthen their ability to effectively engage with, and influence, the activities of banks in the coal sector.